“Triple-H may have won a battle, but he’s just started a war.”
—The Undertaker’s statement after Triple-H defeated him at WWE Super Showdown, October 6, 2018.

*****†******†*****†***

“Unshackled: Striker gets one-month term of imprisonment; his cohorts sentenced to life imprisonment.”
—The Eagle’s Eye.

“Mixed reactions as judge sentences Striker, one of the notorious kidnappers, to one-month imprisonment, and his cohorts to life imprisonment.”
—The Mouthpiece.

Those were the major headlines of the notable newspapers in the country. That morning, people, mostly Biafra supporters and soccer fans, flocked around newspaper stands as usual to feed their eyes with the current news and argue over them till their stomachs grumbled in agitation. But the kidnappers’ case took the center stage, and voices rose in mixed reactions.

Striker was lucky to have gotten only one-month term of imprisonment because, according to the judge who was minded to grant his lawyer’s plea of allocutus, “he has helped make the case easier and hasten the proceedings by pleading guilty to the charges and giving overwhelming testimony that corroborated the pieces of evidence against the accused persons…”

The prosecution had applied to the court to grant him leave to call Striker, the 7th accused person, as one of the Prosecution Witnesses, since ‘ he was now on his side and was willing to give evidence in his favour.’

That was how Striker ‘transformed’ into a repentant sinner, like the criminal on the right-hand side of Christ on Mount Calvary. He told the court how it all happened. Before their arraignment in court, he facilitated the arrest of the other six accused persons by giving the police credible information on their hideouts. The other three kidnappers, who were still at large, had escaped with the Lexus jeep. But Chief Ferdinand Chukwu was rescued unscathed, and his safety alone was what his family wanted, hence, their special thanksgiving service cum ceremony one month ago.

Striker landed in prison for at all because, according to the judge, quoting the Bible, “No sin goes unpunished. Let this serve as a deterrent to other criminals because they may not be so lucky like Idika Mmuo( A.K.A. Striker), even if they pleaded guilty to all the counts in the world.”

The above judicial statement had caused a paroxysm of laughter in the court room. The judge knew how to use comic relief to calm down tensions.

★

Striker is now a free man. But an overwhelming feeling of foreboding assails him daily. He hardly sleeps now with his two eyes closed, always vigilant like Argos, the one-hundred-eyed monster in Greek mythology. With the three kidnappers still not in police’ net, he knows that he’s not safe. No fraternity ever condones betrayal!

He goes to church everyday now, prays fervently and, sometimes, sleeps in the church because he sees his condemned colleagues in his dreams howling like wolfs and stretching forth their hands through the iron prison bars and trying to pull him inside the prison and devour him! They don’t want to die alone. They took the oath together, partook in the crime together and must die together.

The sun is just rising from sleep when Striker emerges from the church, waves goodbye to Father Anthony and flags down an Okada motorcycle rider.

The motorcyclist rides to where he is standing and bends the motorcycle to enable Striker’s short frame to mount it.

As the motorcycle tries to zoom off, three sounds of gunshots rent the air. In a twinkling of an eye, Striker and the motorcyclist are sprawling on the tarred road with blood oozing from the head of the motorcyclist and from Striker’s left arm. The three kidnappers have already disappeared, thinking that their target has kissed the dust.

In hospital bed now, Striker now realizes that he is in for a lifetime war. He has gotten himself lifetime enemies. And the deadliest enemies are those who were once your friends, because they most likely must have known your secrets, everything about you! He remembers how the corpse of the motorcyclist was wheeled to the mortuary, and he shudders. He can’t imagine himself being the dead man. He wants to live and walk freely. That was why he admitted to his crimes. In fact, their punishment would have been a death sentence, but the judge tempered justice with mercy and granted a plea of alloctus in very serious offences. Now it has dawned on Striker that the freedom he ‘bought’ is a bondage in disguise! He can never rest because he has opened the Pandora box!

THE END.